president obama is coming back to washington to try to reach a deal on avoiding the fiscal cliff. he now has less than a week until automatic tax hikes and sending cuts go into effect and the way out of this mess isn't clear. here's our senior congressional correspondent, dana bash. >> lisa, house republican leaders who are home for christmas held a conference call this afternoon to talk about when the house should come back in session. two gop sources tell me they did not make a decision. it's still up in the air. a reason for that is, if anything can get done in the next six days, the ball is in the senate's court. >>> the capital is a ghost town. the halls are empty, neither chamber in session. an eerie calm, since the fiscal cliff, only the congress has the power to avert, is less than one week away. at their homes for the holiday, the senate democratic leaders are trying to figure out if the president's scaled back bill, keeping middle class tax cuts in place, can pass congress at the 11th hour. >> there is absolutely no reason, none, not to protect these americans from a tax